CaliGraph back at it – Have you seen this bus

Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Reporter
Dreary and bland coloured buses in Zimbabwe could be a thing of the past as CaliGraph are planning to redesign them.

Turning bland spaces is something that CaliGraph has done before as they are the people who turned various walls in the country into murals of artistes who included Mbo Mahocs, Sandra Ndebele, Soneni Gwizi, Sarah Mpofu-Sibanda, Busi Ncube and Berita.

Now, the CaliGraph team has embarked on a mission that will see them painting at least 10 buses in Harare and Bulawayo.

Since the return of buses on the country’s urban routes, not many are recognisable as traditionally, they had simple designs on them. Apart from some which ply the rural routes that have taglines on the back or on the mudguards, many can only be differentiated by the company colour. Like the Green Horse buses which are predominantly green with a touch of white or the Musawenkosi green alongside Revival Bus Services, Sukasihambe is red and Bafana Bafana is either green, white or yellow.

When pictures of a colourfully painted bus emerged on social media recently, they excited some with one of the founders of CaliGraph, Marcus Zvinavashe explaining how the idea came up.

“Shingai Shoniwa (musician) is the one who came up with the concept. The bus is featured in her upcoming music video of No Fear, a song that features Verseless. We simply interpreted what she wrote and painted it on the bus,” said Zvinavashe.

“The two faces painted on the bus are Shingai and Verseless.”

Zvinavashe said the painting of the buses was also inspired by the diverse culture and tribes of Zimbabwe.

“The patterns are a representation of the Zimbabwean tribes and languages. Shingai felt this song was about her ancestral home and she wanted to represent her home in the video through the bus. We painted most of the patterns that represent Zimbabwe and its culture according to the research we did,” said Zvinavashe.
Zvinavashe said they plan to do more.

“We’re always about collaborations and we’re planning on painting more buses in Harare and Bulawayo. Unlike this bus, we’ll be doing uncommissioned work so it’ll take some time to reach our target of 10 buses. We’re willing to work with bus owners, Zupco and other organisations to create a dope and colourful public transport system.” – @bonganinkunzi